Add fuel to literal fires, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister goes off on a rant that makes one happy that ‘former’ is part of his title. As the article from the Jakarta Globe clearly demonstrates, Mr. Mahathir seems to be having some trouble keeping things in chronological sequence. He also has some trouble with reality and with anti-Semitism.
The article provides numbers on churches and other places of worship that have been torched in this current round of inter-religious friction.
If US Could Create ‘Avatar’, It Could Fake 9/11 Attacks: Mahathir
Malaysia’s former premier Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday there was “strong evidence” the US faked the September 11 terror attacks as an excuse to go to war against Muslims.
“There is strong evidence that the attacks were staged. If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,’ Mahathir told the Conference for the Support of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), as quoted by local media.
The former premier also blamed Jews for hindering progress in US foreign policy. Voicing his disappointment that Barack Obama had not yet ended the war in Afghanistan or closed the US terror detention center at Guantanamo, he explained that “there are forces in the United States which prevent the president from doing some things. One of the forces is the Jewish lobby.”
Jews “had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole governments to ransom,” Mahathir said.
“Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.”
Mahathir, who led Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, has long been known for anti-semitic and anti-US statements.
Meanwhile, police in Kuala Lumpur said on Thursday that vandals tried to torch a Muslim prayer room, one of the few attacks on an Islamic place of worship after nearly a dozen churches were firebombed amid a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians.
Religious tensions have risen after a court ruled on Dec. 31 that non-Muslims can use “Allah” as a translation for God in the Malay language. Many among the country’s ethnic Malay Muslim majority believe the word should be exclusive to Muslims, and that its use by others could confuse some Muslims and even entice them to convert.
Since Jan. 8, there have been assaults on 11 churches, a Sikh temple and a mosque.
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January:22:2010 - 11:59
Guys like Mr. Mahathir give Muslims a bad name. I can only hope the people of Malaysia don’t buy into his hate rhetoric…the irony is that he is railing in a way that he hates non Muslims to do against Muslims…not really a way to set an example. Islam, IMO needs a few VERY VISABLE heroes for moderation; not these crazy loudmouths who grab the headlines…
January:23:2010 - 04:44
Mahathir is certainly off the rails. Unfortunately, it seems common Muslims are buying into this kind of hate rhetoric. This idea of the 9/11 attack as a faked strategy of the US is held by many Muslims, though not by all of them.
It’s also unfortunate that his remarks have come in the wake of the attacks on Malaysian churches and the current PM’s portrayal of these attacks as “minor aberrations.” It’s almost as though both the current and the ex-PMs are trying to justify the attacks on the churches. This is nothing but the hate politics to serve one’s own selfish ends.
January:24:2010 - 08:28
Malaysians have a reputation for being the most hatefully anti-Semitic people in the entire Southeast Asia region.
January:24:2010 - 11:12
That’s not the way the Malaysian Muslims used to be in the past. But they have certainly become hateful towards non-Muslims now.
January:24:2010 - 11:18
It’s very sad. But I don’t think officials are trying to “justify” the attacks. They would like to downplay them, and sweep them under the rug, because they reflect badly on Malaysia and Muslims. What they don’t seem to realize is the story is out- people know what is happening, and they can’t really hide it, as they’d like to- and their trying to just makes it look worse.
January:24:2010 - 11:33
Yes, that’s also a plausible explanation.